It is known to use burner assemblies to heat and dry aggregate materials used in connection with the production of hot mix asphalt. Conventional burner assemblies used in connection with the production of hot mix asphalt, however, suffer from one or more disadvantages. For example, conventional coal burners do not inject coal into the burner such that wear is minimized. Conventional coal burners do not uniformly mix air and coal dust because such burners swirl the air/coal mixture in order to stabilize the main flame. In addition, the swirl produced by conventional coal burners contributes to the excessive abrasive wear on the components of the burners.
It would be desirable, therefore, if an apparatus could be provided that would inject coal into a coal burner such that wear to the components of the burner is minimized. It would also be desirable if such an assembly could be provided that would uniformly mix air and coal dust. It would be further desirable if such an assembly could be provided that would produce a stable main flame without swirling the air or coal in the coal burner.